Dr. Gizem Sürenkök

Relationship scientist
turned tech founder

I build AI-powered digital health products at the intersection of behavioural science and technology. Psychology is the input, technology is the output.

PhD Cornell MA NYU MBA Koç BA Boğaziçi
scroll
About

From Cornell's research labs
to building products people use

I did my PhD at Cornell with Cindy Hazan and Vivian Zayas, studying how people bond, regulate, and co-regulate. Then I spent the next decade trying to turn that science into something people could actually use in their daily lives.

That journey led me to co-found Relate, a self-therapy app, and more recently Midrise — an AI-powered platform for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. I started building Midrise because I was experiencing symptoms myself and realised that even well-informed women had nowhere trustworthy to turn.

Along the way, I created Yakın İlişkiler, a relationship science platform that became Turkey's largest in the space — and, unexpectedly, the growth engine behind everything else I build.

Work

Things I'm building

Midrise
AI-powered support for perimenopause & menopause
Turkey's first dedicated platform for women navigating this life stage — combining an AI chatbot, symptom tracking, psychology-based self-therapy, and community support.
Relate
Evidence-based self-therapy, on your phone
A digital self-therapy app delivering structured psychological interventions through guided journeys. Built on AI/ML personalisation funded by TÜBİTAK R&D grants.
Yakın İlişkiler
Relationship science for everyone
Turkey's leading relationship science platform — a podcast, newsletter, and community translating academic psychology into accessible content. 300 episodes and counting.
"

The thing I'm most proud of is probably simpler than any milestone: people write to us and say 'this app helped me understand myself.'

Speaking & Teaching

Sharing science beyond
the conference room

TEDxIzmirWomen
"Redefine" — on how we relate to ourselves and others
Gazhane Museum, Istanbul
Monthly public talks on psychology and wellbeing since 2022
Universities across Turkey
Guest lectures on relationships, attachment, and emotional regulation
YetGen Summit
Psychology and digital wellbeing for the next generation
Get in touch

I'm currently preparing to bring
Midrise to the UK

Whether it's about collaboration, speaking, or just a conversation about psychology and technology — I'd love to hear from you.